MY FAVOURITE THINGS: Michael Lee of Sheffield Sports Medicine

MIchael Lee

Michael Lee heads up leading Sheffield-based physiotherapy clinic, Sheffield Sports Medicine (SSM). Michael started the business in 2009, with the clinic enjoying rapid growth in the years since.

As well as running his own business, the 33-year-old from Meersbrook has also worked as a consultant to Leicester City Football Club, after being headhunted by former England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson, and was also previously physiotherapist and strength and conditioning coach for Sheffield United Football Club.

Sheffield Sports Medicine has also recently moved premises – a £100,000 investment has seen the business relocate from the Virgin Active Health Club at Broadfield Park in Heeley to a huge new facility at Graves Health and Leisure Centre in the Norton area of the city.

Michael currently lives in the quiet north Derbyshire village of Dronfield with his wife, Joyce, and their four-month-old son, Gabriel.

Meersbrook

I grew up here, and have countless fond childhood memories from the area.

Meersbrook Park in particular resonates with me – it’s where I would go sledging in the winter months and play tennis and football during the summer with my best childhood friend, Tommy Chan, who to this day is our head specialist podiatrist. Those summer months spent playing sport in the park with Tommy actually influenced the name of my business – which was originally called MiTo Therapy – after Michael and Tommy!

Meersbrook has always been a huge part of my life – not least because it was where I proposed to my wife, Joyce. We’ve now been married seven years, and recently had our first child, Gabriel, who was born in January this year.

Archer Road

Archer Road’s Virgin Active Health Club, was where Sheffield Sports Medicine, or as it was known back then, MiTo Therapy, was born – so it’s impossible for me not to include it! We have been based in the south of Sheffield for almost a decade, and there’s still nothing better than seeing patients who have arrived in pain leaving symptom-free.

It’s a really rewarding job. One of the biggest things I love about the day is that there is a great variety of injuries that come through the door. This allows me to apply the best treatments available to the patients such whether it be manipulation, injections, acupuncture, massage or Kinesio taping.

Archer Road was also where I successfully treated Kate Allatt, which is my proudest moment. Kate suffered a huge stroke in 2010 and suffered from Locked-In syndrome as a result, but was referred to me by her family. Kate was pushed in by her mother in a wheelchair but in less than two years was able to run again - a remarkable story.

Loxley

This was where Kate, as part of her amazing rehabilitation, completed the Percy Pud 10k just 16 months after suffering her stroke.

Seeing her cross the finish line was an incredible moment and really encapsulates everything I love about the job I do – we successfully managed to change Kate’s life.

Kate has gone on to become a worldwide inspiration, and is now a global activist, internationally published author, TEDx speaker and researcher.

Ride for Eric

Ride for Eric (RFE) is an annual fundraising event held in memory of Eric Codling, a cyclist who was knocked down and killed by a drunk driver on Whirlowdale Road in November 2013.

Eric was a patient of mine at the time and I won’t ever forget the moment I learnt that he had sadly passed away. In the years since, Sheffield Sports Medicine has supported the RFE event, which has gained national exposure in the past, offering our services for free. The most recent edition took place on 20 May this year and supported HOPE – the South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue and RTC Family Support Group.

Weston Park Cancer Charity

Weston Park Cancer Charity has been a cause we’ve supported for almost a decade now. Our involvement with Weston Park first came about when my wife, Joyce, was researching bowel cancer during her final year of a medical research PhD at the University of Sheffield, which was spent mainly at Weston Park.

It was when Joyce was researching bowel cancer that we noticed her mother, Anita, was showing cancer symptoms – and was diagnosed with Leukaemia in August 2012.

Having initially only been given months to live, Anita is still with us to this day – and without the research which is done by charities such as Weston Park Cancer Charity, she would not still be here.

Graves Health and Leisure Centre

Graves Health and Leisure Centre is where our new clinic is based. We opened the clinic last Sunday (3 June), with Kate Allatt herself on hand to cut the ribbon – it was fantastic to have her back and a really poignant moment for the business, for myself and Joyce and for Kate too.

Graves is the next step for Sheffield Sports Medicine – we’re so excited to have a bigger space for our work and it gives us the opportunity not only to expand the amount of staff we have but enhance the level and variety of services we can offer to our patients.